I love returning to Sydney as I lived there for around thirty-years and loved going into the city. Now I especially like going up for a long weekend to visit friends or see an opera or musical.

My first visit for this post, was whilst I was still working last year and with my work colleague, I travelled from Canberra for a meeting and I decided to try a Vietnamese restaurant in the inner city (BayHong) which was recommended by a friend and had rave reviews on-line especially for its vegan menu. However first, after work, my colleague Helen and I decided to take a walk down to the harbour, I must say Sydney harbour is one of my favourites in the world (little biased perhaps) but it is pretty spectacular along with our Bridge and Opera House which are pretty special too…A little later we walked up to Surry Hills, an inner city suburb and found our restaurant which was pretty cute inside along with a very sweet and attentive waiter.Another four of my friends met us and we ordered some fabulous food; everyone decided on the vegan menu which was great for me as I got to try all dishes. Our entrees were home made spring rolls with a light sweet chilli sauce, deep fried vegetable puffs and steamed dumplings with a side of dipping sauce.All were very good. Our main dishes consisted of two curries; one a lemongrass tofu curry and the other a deep fried tofu with vegetable dish. Then a mock chicken dish with finely chopped lemongrass and onions. All ‘yum’. I was so lucky to enjoy such a large selection of food.

As for my second visit, every year since we attended a 25 year school reunion twelve years ago, three (now four) of my school friends and I meet together for a long weekend, usually at one of our houses, but last year we decided to meet in Sydney and see the Carole King musical ‘Beautiful‘. We all grew up with that fabulous ‘record’ ‘Tapestry‘…

I booked us an Airbnb home in a nearby suburb called Paddington; which has great shops, restaurants and cafes..so convenient for us to dine after the musical and great for breakfast the next morning. What a magnificent home and we looked on line and it was for sale for over $3m AUD. Little bit too expensive for me!!The musical was excellent and we sang along to all the songs and had a bit of a tear during some parts. No photos allowed during the show of course but I managed one of the stage before the show commenced.As we attended a matinee session, we were finished around 5pm so decided to walk back to our Airbnb through the city, Hyde Park and then through the main street of Paddington where we stopped and had dinner at an Indian restaurant I used to go to when I worked in Sydney all those years ago. Great to see it was still there.

Sue, this is a fabulous post !!! I am Pinteresting it right now, so that I can go and visit all the nice spots you mentioned when I travel to Sydney someday! This really is the type of post that 1) makes me travel through your eyes and it IS fabulous (as your blog name states very well!), and 2) makes us all figure out again that sometimes travelling on a “staycation” mode is as much worth it as going to far-away places. The cities we live in often are so interesting when one takes the time to observe around and try nice eateries etc. Love this post so much!!! xoxox

I’m glad you had a great time. You certainly did a lot of walking on both trips.

OK, I’m very surprised your Indian restaurant is still there after all those years. Personally, I like Surry Hills over Paddington for breakfast/food choices. And what a fabulous sounding vegan dinner, but the entrees seemed to be all deep fried. But a little overindulgence every now and then isn’t a bad thing. 🙂 🙂 🙂

Really enjoyed reading this post Sue as it brought back some happy memories. I’ve visited Australia five times (pre blogging days) and spent some time in Sydney on four of my visits. I absolutely love the area around Sydney harbour too. Twice we stayed at the Harbour Rocks Hotel and the other times in a gorgeous apartment overlooking Lavender Bay. Hopefully, I’ll be back sometime to relive the experience!

Sidney looks so lovely! I’ve always dreamt of visiting Australia for various reasons. It’s pretty far away from Norway, with three kids, we need a plan. The Sydney harbour and the famous Opera are spectacular. The stage (deep purple) of the musical “Beautiful” is just beautiful. Thank you for the great post! 😊

Hi Lyn I have looked at my Airbnb account and can only see a photo and address as it now says the place is no longer available for leasing. However just to help you this is the address in case you want to look for other places around there.

All were deep fried which as you say was good for one night but not all the time. I stayed at Surry Hills on another occasion I went to Syd and love it so much too. Especially Danks Street. How that part of Redfern/Surry Hills has changed. All definitely for the better. Such fab restaurants.

Really sorry Lyn. This was my error. The address I gave you was another visit to Sydney. I know I wrote I used Airbnb in my post in Paddington but I just remembered I used my best friend’s long term real estate company. She gives me a one night stay at late notice but usually does a few days or weekly rentals. Her website is: